Filioque
Filioque
fee-lee-OH-kweh
The single Latin word added to the Creed in the West — the Spirit proceeds “from the Father and the Son” — which became a flashpoint between East and West.
and from the Son
The Creed of 381 said the Holy Spirit “proceeds from the Father.” Latin churches, following a Western tradition of confessing the Spirit's procession from the Father and the Son, came to add Filioque, “and the Son,” and Rome adopted the addition in the eleventh century. The East objected both to the change and to the theology. The Catechism explains that the two traditions are approaching the same mystery from different sides: the East stresses the Father as the sole source of the Godhead, the West that the Spirit proceeds from Father and Son as from one principle, and both can be held together. Eastern Catholics recite the Creed without the word.
Councils
Where the Church settled or debated this. Follow a council to read our article on it, or the decrees themselves.
- 381First Council of Constantinopleour article
- 1274Second Council of Lyonthe decrees
- 1431–1445Council of Basel–Ferrara–Florencethe decrees
Sources checked 29 September 2026